Topic > litigation

The twisty turns of Apple and Samsung’s current legal battle are enough to give you whiplash. After U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh denied Samsung’s appeal to lift the sales ban on the Galaxy Nexus earlier this week, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit suspended the sales ban tonight, The Verge reports.

Facebook is learning that money and fame cannot buy you everything. The social network has been thwarted in its aggressive pursuit to sue any company that uses “book” or “face” in its domain name, most recently against a porn site in Norway.

Microsoft announced today that it will be selling hundreds of patents to Facebook, a sign that it wants to protect its investment from litigation as the social network heads towards an IPO next month. But this wasn’t a sudden change of heart.

The crisis that is the American software patent system has reached a tipping point. It’s no longer just established companies who are being hit with frivolous lawsuits, it’s startups as well. And in a new twist, American cities that are already strapped for cash are getting the shakedown from patent trolls.

Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility will likely be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice next week, sources tell Bloomberg, but don’t expect Google to backtrack on Motorola’s contentious patent litigation tactics.

This isn’t a good week for S3 Graphics. After S3 had its patent dispute against Apple dismissed by the U.S. International Trade Commission earlier this week, the company’s suitor HTC is now having second thoughts about its union.

Yah, you read that right. As of today, Microsoft’s patent licensing agreements with Android manufacturers now cover more than half of all Android devices, thanks to the recent addition of Taiwan-based Compal.

After five years of legal back and forth, Dish Network and its former parent company EchoStar have settled their ongoing litigation with digital video recording (DVR) company Tivo that centered on Dish’s DVR implementation, for $500 million.